It’s not finished yet but I’m following the method employed by davidpaganbutler - YouTube
with gravel filter beds at each end and a bubble-lift pump located at the deepest part just under the jetty. I’ve also installed a circulating pump to feed a small stream running back into the pond up the shallow end but neither pump is connected yet. We did a post about it on our neglected instagram page…Thresholds Shropshire (@thresholdsshropshire) • Instagram photos and videos
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So I finally looked and I love every single thing about your listing. I never thought Shropshire England would be on my list of places to go but it is now. I’ll probably never make it but I can dream.
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Thanks KKC (and JJD) - bringing us back to topic though, I’d like to say that the original reason for this post was/is that we don’t get that many bookings and I’m trying to work out how best to get more views that actually convert into bookings. After flirting with the idea of advertising an all-in price (which thankfully you all seemed to dislike) I’m still confronted by a catchy title not really cutting the mustard. Susie thinks it’s because we don’t allow pets or children and don’t have a hot tub…
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Maybe.
No.
But maybe if you could add one it would help.
I’d guess it’s because you are away from tourist areas/towns and there is a lot of competition from other listings in the area?
With your listing I would try to cater to people who want an Eco-stay with wildlife and bees and plants. Set up your own website and maybe look at what kind of targeted ads you could place. Maybe put cards or flyers on bulletin boards in outdoor equipment stores if they still do that kind of thing. (I’m laughing at the possibility that this is a ridiculous sugggestion these days.)
Definitely see if you can get on one of Airbnb’s special categories like “off-grid.” Search in your area and click the “off-grid” option. There’s some of your competition.
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Of course all areas of the world are different but many hosts don’t accept pets or children or have hot tubs and still get high occupancy.
I would second what KKC said about marketing towards a certain demographic of guests. I think your listing description is excellent and comprehensive, and gives me a good idea of what your place is like. But you could maybe expand the first line of your description.
While I am not off-grid, I live in the countryside, a 20 minute walk (and almost none of my guests drive here) from the center of town and the beach in a touristy tropical beach town. So I say it’s a good place for guests who want to work on their art, writing, do their yoga practice, or just relax and read the books they’ve been meaning to get around to. And that has worked well to get those type of guests (they aren’t all like that, some are sporty rather than creative types, but the common denominators are that they don’t mind the 20 minute walk to town, like being out in a quiet area, understand that it’s not some modern place with restaurants and shops close by, etc.).
So you could try something like that- leading guests to think, “That’s me he’s talking about”.
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In your listing, the picture " Where you’ll sleep" right under the description shows a sofa. Would guests browsing listings think that they would have to sleep in a sofa bed? Can you replace it with the picture of your lovely king-size bed? To attract more guests, you may consider putting a small sofa-bed (with a mattress of 140x190cm) to accommodate a third or even a forth guest (with a supplement of 15-20€ per extra guest per night). I don’t know how big your rental is, but it seems that your lounge is big enough for an unfolded sofa bed. Besides, you have plenty of outdoor space in the garden more than enough for 3-4 guests. I used to rent a 1 bedroom flat (42m2) where there was a double bed (140x190cm) in the bedroom and a double sofa-bed (also 140x190cm when unfolded) in the living room. There were quite a lot of groups of 3 and 4 travellers. Quite often, even groups of 2 travellers (non-couple) asked to sleep separately. I think you can attract more clients by replacing the sofa by a sofa-bed. But then, you would need to add place settings and seats when you have more than 2 guests.
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[quote=“Miyima, post:37, topic:57185, full:true”]
In your listing, the picture " Where you’ll sleep" right under the description shows a sofa. Would guests browsing listings think that they would have to sleep in a sofa bed? Can you replace it with the picture of your lovely king-size bed?
Thanks Miyima… I hadn’t noticed that. It’s funny you know, before I started this post we had a shot of the bed in “Where you’ll sleep” and another shot of the sofa in the “LivingRoom” but someone pointed out that I wasn’t being accurate by saying we had a bedroom and it should be called a studio. So I dutifully removed the bedroom part of the listing but didn’t check how it appears on the page. Anyhow, I think I’ve got there now so thanks again for taking the time to point it out.
Although I’ve been a host for a couple of years now it’s only recently that I’ve started to explore the listing options and available tools. I’m trying to craft our listing to make it more attractive to increase our conversion rate and so I appreciate the feedback, even when it’s a bit snippy and unforgiving (not you), but I am learning (slowly), especially from this forum, and making changes as I go along.
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You’re very welcome, Jujuba. 
Have a very good day!
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Hey Jujuba, we just performed a study last week on how additional fees and service charges can affect listings in Airbnb’s algorithm. Hope this helps, " Cleaning vs No Cleaning Fees
Upon analyzing, we discovered that listings sans cleaning fees boasted an average first-page impression rate of about 48%, as opposed to those with a cleaning fee, which stood at about 44%.
The data suggests a notable improvement in visibility for listings that opted to absorb the cleaning fee.
Service vs No Service Fees
We didn’t stop there; our curiosity led us to also explore the impact of covering Airbnb’s service fee. Interestingly, properties that included the service fee within the nightly rate had a first-page impression rate of about 48.5% compared to a 43% rate for those that did not.
This indicates a potential incentive in covering the service fee to enhance your listing’s discoverability.
The Gist Is…
The data suggests a positive link between removing extra fees and getting more visibility for your Airbnb listing. However, simply absorbing these costs is likely not the best plan of action (especially in terms of revenue). We would recommend starting by baking the fees into your nightly rate first.
This way, you’re not just getting rid of extra charges, but you might make your listing more attractive to potential guests."
A 4% difference isn’t “notable”. And who is the “we” who did this study? Or is this another AI post?
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It certainly seems to be. doesn’t it? These:
statistics are so silly - they just don’t bear out in real life.
For example. both my apartments have a cleaning fee equivalent to one night’s stay. Both are back-to-back, year-round
But evidently, they get lower visibility in Airbnb search? (Or Google search? The bot didn’t specify.)
I love this ‘the data shows…’ thing. 
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Yeah, “data” like this seems pretty meaningless to me. If a host is in an area where there is lots of competition, for one thing, obviously everyone isn’t going to end up with a “first page impression”. And if everyone followed the above advice and eliminated the cleaning and service fees for guests, then doing that isn’t going to up your search ranking at all.
I never even look at where my listing appears. And I was wondering whether I’m even visible, because I had my calendar blocked since mid summer, and opened it starting Oct.15. (I almost never get hot humid summer/early autumn bookings here anyway, and I went to Canada for 7 weeks).
I’ve been doing some tweaks and maintenance jobs to the guest space this week in prep for taking new photos and gearing up for the tourist season here. I never really get bookings until Nov, so I figured I’d be right on time to hopefully give my listing a little search boost with the new photos, but I just got my first booking of the season today, for 10 days from now, so I guess my listing must be visible.
I’ve never charged a cleaning fee, but I’m not at all inclined to absorb all service fees. I want guests to see how much service fees Airbnb charges.
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